Page 26 of Keeping Her Safe

Swallowing hard, nobody she had dated had made it into her bedroom. “I guess.”

“I should get ready for the day. Breakfast will be here soon.” He quickly pushed up from the bed and disappeared into the bathroom. He was mad again; she could tell by his walk. Now, what had she done? Was it because he thought she was staring at him? He’d started it.

She saved her work and pulled the USB drive, slipped it into her bra, and shut the computer. Going to his bag, she pulled out the files on her sisters to look at, but a book fell on the floor as she did. Picking it up, she saw it was her book, the first one. She rarely looked at her work once it was completed—she couldn’t change it anyway.

Zephyr sat on the bed and opened the book, reading the opening paragraphs. It was like getting a hug from her younger self. Before she knew what she was doing, she had grabbed a pen from the bedside table and was making notes in the margins, changing words.

That’s what Zachary caught her doing when he came out of the bathroom. He walked over to her and grabbed the book out of her hands, and looked at the notes. He flipped back a few pages and then looked at her. “You know you can’t change it now, right? You cannot change the entire first sentence on the first page.”

Letting out a breath in a puff, she said, “No, I can’t change it. That’s why I don’t read them. I see the mistakes and the muddled words.”

Turning the book over and looking at the cover, he said, “It says you won three awards for this book alone. I don’t think the words are too muddled.”

“You don’t understand. I see these places, the people, and the words sometimes just don’t explain it like I want them to. The first paragraph is kind of green, but it should be green. Ireland, shamrocks, a blade of grass. It’s dull, and I don’t know how I could make it brighter.” She looked at the pen in her hand and twirled it as she spoke.

“But that is the paragraph that’s hooked how many people to these books? It’s good,” he said.

“But not great,” she whispered.

“What is really wrong, Zephyr?” he asked, sitting down on the bed. He put the book on the nightstand.

“Nothing.”

“Is it this guy stalking you?”

“No, I don’t think he’s anything,” she admitted. Even though he had turned up in her house, she felt he was harmless.

“What then? You can talk to me.”

“I have to eliminate twenty thousand words from my last book. That’s thirty typed pages. I’m having a hard time getting rid of it. All of it’s important.” It had been years since she had anyone to talk to about her work. Only Brian had ever cared.

“Holy cow. Can you make it into two books?” he asked.

“No, there’s not enough material for that.”

“Do you have to end the series at that point?”

“Yes. Everything has all been for this moment,” she admitted, peeking up at him.

“So, they finally get what they are looking for. I thought they would get there by the end of book one.” He laughed at himself.

“Well, it takes all the books. They get closer every time,” she replied.

“Do they get home?”

“No, it ends with them getting the thing.” She didn’t want to ruin it for him.

He tilted his head at her in question. “Why don’t they get to go home?”

“You don’t get to go home. Once you leave, you can’t go back,” she said simply.

“It seems like the story can’t be over until they make it back home.”

His thoughts made sense, but how would they get home? How long would that take? As ideas consumed her, she twisted the pen in her hands. She stared blankly in front of her, not seeing anything.

She didn’t register when he got up or when he kissed her forehead and said, “I’ll come get you when breakfast is ready.”

CHAPTER 11

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